Controversial Cairo plan is withdrawn by developer

The Daily Mail newspaper in Catskill is reporting this morning that the Alden Terrace project planned for the town of Cairo has been withdrawn by developer Charles Maggio.

Cairo Town Supervisor John Coyle made the announcement last night at a planning board meeting, according to the newspaper. “It is official,” he said. “The project is no longer.”

As proposed, Alden Terrace would have included 140 housing units, including apartments for seniors, subsidized “work-force” housing and town homes priced between $250,000 and $300,000.

The 20- to 30-acre project, first proposed in 2004, also would include two restaurants and 89,000 square feet of retail space, including a supermarket.

Maggio, talking to the Times Union in 2007, said he had been searching for a site in Greene County on which to build, especially as the area has remained relatively free of the larger-scale development seen in Hudson Valley towns to the south and Albany County to the north.

“It just didn’t seem to me that Greene County would remain rural,” said Maggio, who lives on Long Island. “I’ve always wondered why Greene County was never on the radar screen.”

But the project drew criticism from residents who believed it was too big for such a small and rural town, and from folks who believed it would harm Cairo’s small but charming downtown shopping district.

It’s unclear if the opposition killed the project, or if Maggio’s decision was influenced by the sour economy and difficult financing market. Maggio could not immediately be reached for comment this morning.